


i'd let you win

by dramamine_qt



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Alpha Relationship, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, In a way, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Masturbation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Hale Family (Teen Wolf) Lives, Young Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23625607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dramamine_qt/pseuds/dramamine_qt
Summary: One would think that being an Alpha and also a member of an old and rich family was what everyone wanted for themselves, but Derek Hale had to disagree. He was born in a way and in a place in which he didn't belong and it was getting harder and harder to pretend to be someone he wasn't.Scott didn't know anything about being an Alpha, having presented so late compared to the others, and in the process of winging it, he found out that not everything should be as everyone said.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Scott McCall
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter I

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I posted it a while back, but at the time I didn't have the story outlined yet and I wasn't sure of where I was going with it, so I deleted it. Now it's mostly written, so, yey!
> 
> I lay here my first attempt to write something in the A/B/O universe, I changed some minor aspects of it, things that will be explained throught the narrative. I thought that it would be interesting to imagine two Alphas getting together.
> 
> English isn't my first language, so if there's some glaring mistake please let me know. I'm a slow writer, but I get there, bear with me.
> 
> Comments are welcome!

\- SCOTT -

Scott woke up breathless and sticky with sweat, humping the mattress, sufficiently close to a toe-curling orgasm. He was used to wet dreams by now, being a teenager – seventeen years old hormones effervescence – that haven’t presented a secondary gender yet, Scott had a very confused and agitated body.

He turned around and kicked the covers away from him, suddenly feeling too hot and too constricted. Scott took himself on his hand, eager to finish, and found something slightly amiss. He inspected curiously the little bump on the base of his cock and the more he touched and pressed the more it swollen and felt really, really, good.

The realization of what it meant was a distant concept on Scott’s head at the moment, too worked up to think properly.

At some point he involved the knot with one hand and pumped the shaft with the other, desperate for release, thrusting up chasing the feeling that was spreading on his lower belly, making him bit his lips to avoid any awkward sound to come out from him.

He came with an explosion and for what seemed like forever, he never imagined that there was so much to come out of him, didn’t even seem possible. But yeah. That was a very textbook Alpha thing.

Scott was an Alpha now, apparently. His hopes to turn out to be a Beta were a distant dream now. He wanted to be just a normal guy with a normal life, nothing with the pressure of being an Alpha and having to live by the rules of his instincts.

Looking down to the mess he made on his recently cleaned sheets, Scott cursed nature and its fucked up biological system. He had to admit it was ridiculously good – _great, even, imagine doing that with someone else, a slick and pleading to be filled up with… NO, ugh, the bad thoughts had started already, damn!_ –, but also really gross.

He sighed and got up to get cleaned up and ready for school. His mom was a Beta so he probably was going to have that talk with her (Betas weren’t as good with scents as Alphas and Omegas were) during breakfast. Which, once again, gross.

Stiles would be so annoying about it.

Fuck everything.

. . . 

“This is so weird, why is everyone looking at me?” Scott was half hiding inside his locker while Stiles made faces to the ones who were bluntly staring, acting like he was Scott’s bodyguard or something. “There’s nothing to see here.”

“There’s plenty to smell tho.” He replied, pointing at his own nose. “And you, my guy, smell like new meat. People want to eat you up.”

“Ew, dude, shut up.” To what Stiles just shrugged.

Maybe going to school so soon wasn’t a good idea. All the attention he was receiving wasn’t the only thing bothering him, there was a lot of other shit going on with his senses. Scott felt like he could smell everything and everyone at a level that couldn’t be allowed. Also, his vision seemed better too, now he could notice some details that he would never before presenting. That, at least, was pretty cool.

“Suck it up, Scott, you are an Alpha now...” Stiles said with a roll of his eyes and an exasperated sigh. “I can’t believe that from all the options you’d end up being a damn Alpha. You know that part of me inherently hates you, right?”

“I didn’t choose, man.”

Stiles was an Omega. Society wasn’t so kind to his secondary gender as it was with Alphas or Betas. A lot of old and biased ideas involving their worth and place within a community still carried on through the years, even if things were starting to change. Omegas were usually seen as weaker and house oriented, incapable of assuming positions of power or outgoing activities.

The way Stiles had found to handle it was rebelling against the system and putting all his energy repelling Alphas ‘whose brains were contained inside their knots like the fucking Neanderthals they were’, Stiles’ words. He also refused to give up lacrosse, even if he hated it, because almost no Omega was given a chance to succeed at sports – _not that Stiles was a candidate of success at lacrosse, he was just stubborn –_ and because Scott had a passion for it, having trying really hard for years to join the first team.

“I know, I know,” Stiles replied, with an exaggerated pained face. “I love you, Scott, but I have to hate you now. You left me no other choice.”

“Yeah? So I assume that now that you hate me and no longer love me you won’t come to the taco’s night on Friday.” Scott sighed. “RIP our game marathons. They are gonna be missed.”

“Shut up! It’s just a little case of hate that is already gone. See? I’m full of love for you.” Stiles opened his arms for a bro hug, but Scott’s scent was too much for him, and would probably be for a while until he got used to it. “Nah, you know what, forget it. It’s half love half hate now and I’m revoking your hugging privileges.”

Scott snorted and would say something, but a group of students passed by and Scott found himself unable to ignore them, letting himself be distracted. Boyd and Erica walked ahead, two Betas looking hot and bitching (Scott didn’t know another way to describe them), and right behind were Derek and Isaac, respectively an Alpha and an Omega, with Isaac being the only other Omega to be part of the lacrosse team. Derek had an arm around Isaac’s waist and a too grumpy face for a teenager to be displaying.

They weren’t strangers to Scott. Derek was captain of the basketball team and they had economics class together. They had been studying in the same school at what seemed to be forever even if they never interacted, but now things were hitting Scott differently.

To begin with, they all shared a particular scent that let it clear that they were _together_ , like a pack. An actual pack. Scott had heard of it, an Alpha heading a group of people and they being basically a found family, but he didn’t know it was really a thing. Watching them made Scott’s stomach churn like he’d just now started to miss something he didn’t know he wanted.

Also, there were just a few Alphas studying in the Beacon Hills High (even if Stiles used to talk like they were some kind of plague) and that was the first one he was encountering after presenting. He’d been in the same room with Derek all the time and it had never affected him, now though, when Scott and Derek made visual contact, his body reacted in the weirdest way ever, being flooded with adrenaline, the blood pumping in his veins like he was getting ready to flight or fight and, considering the way he instinctively bared his teeth and kinda put himself in front of Stiles, his Alpha brain had decided to take the fight route.

Derek stopped on his tracks and the other ones stopped too, even the two that weren’t paying attention, who turned and looked at Scott curiously. Derek measured him up and raised an eyebrow, acknowledging Scott’s new secondary gender status. He didn’t look fazed by Scott’s sudden focus on him, but Derek tilted his head and frowned in a way that infuriated his already worked up system. Scott snarled, quietly, but Stiles listened to it very well. 

“Seriously?” Stiles let out, making a disgusted face at him. “I’m gonna buy a spray bottle and shush you every time you pull this kind of shit. Let’s get out of here.”

Scott let himself get pulled but still had a hard time taking his eyes off of Derek, feeling as if he turned his back to him _something_ would happen, he didn’t even know what. He was too new on the Alpha business to understand the dynamics of it. What had just happened? There was literally zero reasons for him to feel challenged, but there he was, wanting to subjugate someone else – _his imagination went wild for a hot minute, Derek taken down on his belly and Scott holding him there with a hand on his neck and a knee on his lower back, putting him on his place, under him... what the fuck, get a grip, Scott!_ – How was he supposed to learn how to control those impulses?

“Great way to start your Alpha hood by creating a field with a Hale,” Stiles commented with a sarcastic thumbs up. “Very clever.”

“He’s a Hale, like in-“

“Yeah, like in that big damn corporation that the Hales own.”

“Oh.” Scott knew he was rich, the car he had and the clothes he wore were definitely of someone with cash to spare, but he had never stopped to make the connection.

“Fun fact: all Derek siblings are Alphas,” Stiles said like it was the most absurd piece of information he had ever learned. “I have shivers just thinking of the hell it must be to live in that house.”

“Look, I don’t feel so good,” Scott said, wishing he had a whole lot of Alpha siblings to tell him what to do with this cold sweat and the desire to start running and never stop. “Can you cover me on practice? Say that I’m sick or whatever.”

“Are you kidding? Finstock totally knows what you are by now. He must be popping a boner knowing that he has someone like you on the team.”

“Gross.”

“A reality.”

“I'd rather not be anywhere near it.” He held onto the strap of his bag and motioned to the door with his head. “I gotta go.”

Stiles nodded and almost went for a hug again but ended up just putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Take care, Scotty.” He winked an eye. “And stay away from Alphas until I have time to train you to behave.”

Scott chuckled and went home, planning to sleep all the awkwardness out and wishing to wake up feeling normal again.

  
  


\- DEREK -

Derek was having a bad day. Worse than usual. A really crappy day.

It was still morning and he felt the need to come up with an excuse and hide in a bathroom stall for a while.

So, that kid, Scott, was a freshly presented Alpha, his scent and stance showed off pure instinct and zero control with a hint of confusion and distress. 

Derek had been there some years ago, when he was the only fourteen years old Alpha from his class, presenting at a too young age, when no one should be worrying about secondary gender or anything about its politics. 

He stood out like a sore thumb since he could remember. To start with his family, that had built an empire ages before he was born and was quite – a lot – traditional. They lived in a large house in the woods – for the privacy, they said – and there were too many people living under the same roof for it to be healthy. Derek had a hard time understanding what was the point of having money and don’t invest in the luxury of being left the fuck alone.

From Talia’s children – her branch was the main in the Hale family tree –, Derek was the youngest and the only one who was still in high school. He presented as an Alpha – as he should, ‘we couldn’t expect anything less of you’ – and his function was to be ignored by every adult, to do what he was told and babysit every little cousin.

At the start, being assigned to that secondary gender so early was a blessing. He scored the title of captain in the basketball team at the moment he joined in, without a sweat. It gave him some unspoken respect as if he had taken a step ahead of everyone else, and it granted him the privileges that came with popularity.

He used to compensate for the lack of attention at home by being the best™ and that ruined him.

Actually, while sitting on the toilet lid of a mostly unused bathroom, Derek came to the conclusion that he was his own ruin. Very cliche, he admitted, but the truth nonetheless.

The person he built to suit his family and to fit in the place people put him wasn’t real. They said that you have to pretend until it’s true, it never worked for Derek. It didn’t matter what he did, Derek kept being the same broken person he always had been.

His phone vibrated and he knew it was Isaac without even looking.

_– you okay?_

Of course he’d worry, they were literally embraced when they passed by Scott in the hall and, even being an expert at keeping his cool in public, Derek couldn’t help but tense up and Isaac definitely felt it. Running away right after was also very suspicious.

– _yeah. see you after school_

He got up and out, making his way to the parking lot without being caught and deciding that skipping a couple of classes wouldn't hurt. 

There was a spot in the woods, at a safe distance of his house and where he knew no one went, where he’d go, park his car, lay on the hood and just think.

And today he needed a lot of thinking.

Derek grew up listening to stories of how it felt to find the one. He watched it happen several times, an Alpha and an Omega meeting and instantly knowing they’d be mated for life. He also knew very well that the dynamics of it when you are young is a lot wilder, it was a chase, an ongoing rush to the eventual point of settling down.

– _So, you find the_ one _. The person that will shake your world, make your heart skip a beat, make you forget how to breathe even if their scent is everywhere and you want to take it in as much as you can. You lose the sense of time and space because they are the only thing you can think of. They are special. They are_ yours _._ –

He always thought that that was too dramatic and too fast to be something that could actually happen, but looking at Scott that morning was like being hit on the face. Repeatedly with a brick.

Scott’s scent had been amazing since ever and that was when he was just a human without assignation. Derek liked him from afar where he couldn’t disrupt the balance he had found on his pack and with Isaac (by his side, Derek didn’t need to go out posturing and fooling around with people he didn’t care with just to assert himself). And he was okay with it.

He went so far without having any interest in Omegas. None. Which was bad enough, but he could manage, a platonic relationship was better than nothing.

He liked Scott. If he turned out to be an Omega, maybe it would fix Derek’s desire and he’d finally feel for an Omega, how it was supposed to be.

But no. Scott had to go there and present as an Alpha. Not just that but he also had to come to school scenting like the most delicious fucking thing Derek’d ever smelt. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel he scent on the back of his throat. 

The way Scott had looked at him didn’t help at all, focused and intense in a way that Derek never thought he was capable of, like he wanted to rip him apart.

And Derek would let it. Part to get to touch him, even if for an instant (which he was monumentally aware of how pathetic it was), and part just to die and leave this world now that he was beyond repair.

It was normal for Betas to have relationships between them, sometimes Alphas would be seen dating Betas for a while but it was rare to see them getting married. Alphas never went out with other Alphas, the same with Omegas. It went against the very nature of their being. Their bodies, their instincts, were designed to meet the needs of their counterparts and that was that.

Derek wished he wasn’t so hung up on this getting together dance. If he could just be alone in a cave he would, but it wasn’t a possibility with his family. He couldn’t stop worrying about what he’s gonna do, about how to stop being such a failure all the time.

He sighed deeply. Tomorrow would be different. All the bullshit about ‘the one’ wouldn’t affect him if he didn’t let it and Derek was a master at denying.

It would be alright.

He picked up his phone and noticed how late it was. Isaac, Erica and Boyd were probably already at the abandoned subway train car where they used to hang out. He sent a text to their group chat.

– _coming. getting coffee on the way, who want some?_

The successive buzzing he had in response made him smile. He had his friends by his side and a plan. Whatever the hell he felt for Scott wouldn’t change it. Right? 


	2. Chapter II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The universe doesn't seem to like Derek very much.
> 
> Scott is a confused puppy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a great case of overthinking and self doubt, so I decided to just post it and stop rewriting the chapter over and over again. I have all the intentions to finish this story, I might as well get over the fear, right?

\- SCOTT -

Scott Alphaness became old news soon, especially with the arrival of a new student. She was an Omega and was absolutely gorgeous, with her curly hair and cute dimples.

Everything about her lured him, from her scent to the tone of her voice, the way she walked and how bright her smile could be. He felt like he could look at her all the time without ever tiring of the shape of her face and –  _ goddamnit, could you please not? _

Scott knew it would happen sooner or later, that crazy ass feelings hormones could make one feel without them wanting to. Allison – that was her name – seemed to be an awesome girl and Scott could totally see himself getting on her if given the chance, but a whole lot of the shit he felt in her presence right now was,  _ probably _ , his inner Alpha being horny.

Growing up with divorced parents, Scott couldn’t help but be quite sceptical about the concept of falling in love. It was more like a novelistic thing people showed off than a real thing.

But what he believed or not didn’t matter when his body and brain were apparently hypnotized by some girl with whom he hadn’t had a single conversation. Brilliant. 

“Dude, stop staring.” Stiles kicked Scott’s chin, shaking his head. They were having lunch, some tables away from where Allison was sitting with the swim kids, laughing about something someone said. 

With all the Alpha glorification there was out there, Scott didn’t expect to go on losing brain cells so soon. Was he going to think with his dick for the rest of his life now?

The only great thing that came with all the mess of presenting was that Scott was now co-captain of the lacrosse’s team, a position he’d been wanting since he started practising. 

Stiles discreetly checked Allison out before rolling his eyes. “Are you gonna ask her out or not?”

Scott choked on water. “Have you lost your mind?”

“No? Why?”

“You just told me to go talk to her.”

“Yeah…?” Stiles snickered. “I thought your hearing had improved, not the other way around.”

“Dude, what-? What are you even talking about? I- what?” 

“Scott, you need to chill.” Stiles planted a hand on Scott’s shoulder and took a deep breath, rolling his eyes. “Think with me for a sec… your status changed a lot since last week, you’re not a loser anymore. She’s totally gonna say yes if you ask her out.”

“I was a loser, you say,” Scott raised an eyebrow, “what does it make of you, then?”

“Me? I’m just not interested, you know?” Stiles focused back on his food. “A very selective Omega you’re looking at.”

His rose-colored cheeks were kinda cute if the context wasn’t so sad. Stiles had a massive crush on one of the most smart and intimidating Alphas of the entire school, but she had never looked at him twice.

It was impossible to  _ not _ see Stiles when he wanted to have his presence noticed, but Lydia was very skilled in the art of ignoring him, anyway.

“I mean, I’m not against having sex at some point, but I hadn’t found anyone worthy yet, so…” The boy still tried to make his situation less pathetic and Scott decided to have mercy and help him and go back to the original subject.

“Anyway, I don’t think I have a chance at all. I mean, look at her,” they both looked, “she just came here, and she’s already popular. Why the hell would she want to hang out with me?”

Stiles sighed.

“Let the self deprecate shit for me, okay, man? The only reason you aren’t sitting with the royalty right now is because you are friends with the annoying chatty kid, not because they’re not thirsting over you.”

Seeing Scott frown and kicked puppy face, Stiles smirked and reiterated, “What I’m saying is that there is nothing not to like about you, chances are that you can date whatever you want now that you have the Alpha factor to add to your chef kiss personality.”

Scott rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

He looked over Stiles’ shoulder to the table where Allison had been sitting at and was now vacated. Maybe making a move wouldn’t be the end of the world. The worst she could do was say no, right?

While he was thinking about it, Scott turned his head to the side and caught Derek staring at him. Scott couldn’t help but sit up straighter as they started a weird glaring contest. Derek was frowning – as always – and looking quite pissed off.

“Hey, Stiles.” He started, without breaking eye contact with Derek.

“Hm?”

“Do you think I should worry about Derek?”

Not so discreetly, Stiles looked over, but Derek just turned his attention back to the people around him like he hadn’t been burning a hole into Scott’s soul just then.

“I don’t know. Did he do something other than being creepy?”

“No, I guess. It’s just that… he’d never given two shits about me before and now he’s, like, everywhere.” Scott shrugged, not entirely sure if they had always been around each other before and he was just oblivious or if his new senses made him hyper aware of the presence of another Alpha nearby. 

Whatever the reason, Scott found himself thinking about him more often than not. Confused and unwanted thoughts.

“But that’s my fault, right? I shouldn’t have snarled, I mean, who snarls?” It'd been a week ago, but – fuck – that was embarrassing. Also, after that, the stares and the posturing started. Every time they crossed paths in the hall, Scott almost expected Derek to jump on him or something.

Did Derek want to fight him or what?

Scott definitely didn’t, but he would if that were necessary to end the tension.

“Yeah, that was awkward.” Stiles laughed a little, shrugging. “Just keep an eye out, I have no idea what goes on in those Alpha heads of yours.”

“Neither do I.” Scott muttered.

He scratched the back of his head. Life should be getting easier and not harder.

Scott always had trouble concentrating, his grades were a proof of that, and now it was even worse. 

His physical performance had undoubtedly improved a lot, he felt stronger, more energetic and sturdier, but he was working twice as hard to strategize and keep up with the game now that he was not just on the first team but also its co-captain – which was a challenge by itself, because Jackson, who had carried the title just for himself for years, wasn’t accepting Scott’s ‘intrusion’ very well –, Scott had to prove that he deserved to be there. 

He still needed to learn a lot about himself, too. He felt restless all the time, like his skin was too tight and there was  _ something  _ he needed to do, but didn’t know what. An itch he couldn’t scratch.

Looking up again, Scott found Derek watching him once more. 

Like a complete dumbass, Scott smiled awkwardly and waved at him. Because, why not? They'd been colleagues for years and now they were both Alphas trying to survive high school, it wouldn't hurt if they became friends.

Derek seemed surprised, which was kinda funny, but then his frown just deepened and his aura looked even more sour.

Shit, or the guy really hated him, or he had the biggest stick up his ass. Why was he so damn annoyed all the time? What did Scott even do? Maybe he should go talk to him and sort-

Before he could make up his mind and get up, Stiles held his wrist with a mildly panicked expression on face.

“What-?” He asked, but his friend just looked beside him and Scott wasn’t all that patient after spending so much energy being silently hated on by a jerk. "What!?"

"Lydia is happening."

And indeed she was coming towards them, a force of nature that couldn't be stopped. 

Even though she was an Alpha too, Scott just felt slightly intimidated – he couldn’t not be, Lydia wasn't one to play with – but in a different way of what he felt around Derek. With him was like… static? It was like being surrounded by some energy, something that lighted him up. Fight or flight. Pushing him to just…  _ do _ something.

Someday Scott would find the words to describe it. That day was not the day.

"You." She pointed at both the boys with her chin. "Are going on a double date with me."

"I'm what now?"

Lydia rolled her eyes.

"You two are going out with me and my date." She spelled out. "Tonight."

"Gladly!" Stiles didn't wait for Scott to recollect himself and give her an answer, but soon his excitement turned into suspicion. "Why, though? What do you want?"

"I want to teach Jackson a lesson. I plan on making him suffer and right now he hates Scott the most." Lydia's smile was evil at best and she looked at them conspiratorially. "We're going to go there, be seen and have fun."

That was an order, not a suggestion. She winked at them and left.

"That was… unexpected." Stiles stated the obvious.

"She didn't even say where we're going." Before Scott finished the sentence, both of their phones buzzed with the same message from Lydia. Apparently their 'date' would be at the skating rink. "That is terrifying. Do you still have a crush on her?"

"That  _ is  _ why I have a crush on her." The answer came with a dumb smile on his face. "Let's go, I have to return a book before class starts."

Scott searched for Derek one last time, but he wasn't there anymore. 

\- DEREK -

Derek had never thought he’d lose his mind at the tender age of seventeen, but there he was, losing his fucking mind.

He also never thought he’d spend his Friday night getting in a fight in a parking lot, but, well, shit was, indeed, fucked.

The sound of Derek’s fists breaking Jackson’s nose was loud and satisfying. 

Jackson fell on his back, whining, dirtying his hands with blood while the small crowd gathered around them exploded in chaos, watching like vultures. Lydia pulled Derek aside with a powerful ‘no’, but that was kind of late to avoid more problems, because Jackson’s friends were already coming for him.

The thing was.

Derek was minding his business in his car, waiting for Erica’s hours to be over and just go home and be sorry for himself in private, for a change. 

The last few days hadn’t been easy for him, not at all. He thought that if he wished hard enough, he could control his feelings the same way he did his entire life, under an iron grip. But how would he do that when Scott seemed to be  _ everywhere _ ? How was he supposed to look away and pretend that his chest didn’t hurt, constrict, thinking about what he could see but couldn’t have?

Sometimes Derek used the pretense of the territorial bullshit Alphas had going on to have an excuse to interact with him. Being hostile was better than trying to be friendly and risking losing the little control over his life he still had.

No one could know Derek had feelings for another Alpha.

Absolutely no one could even think that Derek would happily yield for him.

A Hale desiring to submit to a newly presenting Alpha was a joke Derek wanted no one to laugh at.

But the more he hid and ran from problems, the more they came towards him, because suddenly a bunch of kids were leaving the rink together, making a lot of noise and arranging themselves into a kind of circle Derek knew very well. Some of them were about to fight and Derek didn’t particularly care or was curious about it, but Erica could be in the middle of them.

_ Hell _ , Erica could be the reason for it, considering how hot-headed she could be.

He left his car and almost wanted to laugh. How ironic and unforgiving his senses were, catching Scott’s scent among the whole bunch immediately, as if they were tuned to find him. 

Scott’s anger was as clear as if there wasn’t anyone else there. He was angry and afraid. He was ashamed, too. Derek didn’t know why, but that was simply unacceptable. The only thoughts on his head was to keep stepping forward and to break whatever was causing it with his bare hands.

Coming closer, he could understand the gist of the problem. Beyond the cheering of the crowd, waiting for some action to come up, there was arguing. Some inciting violence, some trying to prevent it.

The thing was. 

Derek didn’t know what the fuck Scott was doing at the ice rink that night, neither why Jackson and Lydia yelled at each other faces and even less why Scott got in the middle of it.

What Derek knew was that he couldn’t stand the way Jackson was threatening and insulting Scott, saying that he had been nothing and never would be. Saying that he was useless and stupid. 

He couldn’t stand some self-centered idiot pointing a finger at Scott’s chest, where his heart was beating hard and fast and, the worst part, hurt.

Derek thought he was pretty justified when he made his way through the people to them and punched Jackson in the face.

Even outnumbered, Derek wasn’t overly worried, more than sure he could take a couple of dumbasses without breaking a sweat, especially when everyone there knew who he was and had a good idea of what he was capable of. 

He was a Hale, for a start. Messing with one of them usually meant messing with a bunch of powerful rich Alphas. Besides that, being the oldest Alpha among his peers (even if hating it) helped him build some convenient walls –  _ I’m bigger and better than all of you, don’t come close, don’t get on my way _ –, it gave him the tools to build the ideal mask to hide behind.

A handy thing that paid off beautifully when Jackson’s friends lost their bravado five seconds into their attempt to step up for their leader.

“Fucking cowards!” Jackson spat, having got up at some point, a trickle of blood coming down his nose. “I’ll kill you!”

Violence wasn’t Derek’s way to go, but that was one of those rare moments where he relished on the prospect of beating the fuck out of someone.

He didn’t have the chance to do anything, though.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Lydia pulled Derek back again and put herself between them, her gaze puncturing through her – most certainly – ex-boyfriend, talking to him like a third-grade teacher scolding a brat schoolchild. “As if it wasn’t pathetic enough to think that you could own me, you think you can threaten my friends like an insecure caveman that you are. Do me a favor and get out of my face before I make you regret being born.”

Jackson seethed under her words, his jaw working without a suitable response to make him look less humiliated in front of their audience.

“Didn’t you listen? Get out!” Said Scott’s friend, Stiles, if Derek was not mistaken. 

Stiles talking reminded Derek of himself and the implications of his impulsive actions. How the hell would he explain coming up out of nowhere and unprompted attacking someone in a parking lot?

He didn’t look back to where the pair was, wouldn’t dare, but Derek attuned his senses to Scott again, now that he was less focused on the shit show he’d started and more in the growing embarrassment settling inside his guts.

Scott’s heart was still agitated, Derek could almost hear the tension with which he clenched his fist. Now that the sense of urgency was over, Derek was having a hard time picking out Scott’s feelings by his scent. The others were existing around them now –  _ figures –  _ and he couldn’t focus the same way. 

“You’re gonna pay for this.” Jackson let out, giving both Lydia and Derek a pointed look. “Just you wait.”

He left, followed by his goons and by the sounds of an incredibly entertained audience.

“Okay, guys! The show is over, nothing to see here anymore.” Stiles stepped up and started shooing the crowd.

Derek thought that was the perfect opportunity to leave without fuss, but after a beat, Lydia turned to him, sounding just as annoyed at him as she was with Jackson. “What the hell was that?”

He crossed his arms and mirrored her annoyance, deciding to act as if she was the dense one for questioning him over a thing that he also didn’t have an answer for.

She sighed so deeply, maybe a bit of her soul left her body in the process.

“As you could see, I can take care of myself just fine. No need for a self-centered big-headed Alpha to take my pains.”

That was time for Derek to sigh, relieved. It was better to be seen as some sort of male chauvinist, getting out of his way to save the female Alpha in distress, than to be doing it to protect his same assigned crush.

_ Damn _ , Derek hated everything about his life.

“Noted.” He replied, ending the conversation, desperate to get out.

Walking back to his car, he glanced at the group that stayed behind, waiting for Lydia, Scott, Stiles and the new girl – the  _ Omega _ new girl –, Derek couldn’t help but notice how close she was to Scott and how pretty she was. 

An ugly feeling started blurbing inside of him. 

Weren’t those two just the picture of what things were supposed to be?

Funny that Derek had never found a reason to worry – who was he kidding? – to  _ be jealous _ about Scott and Stiles’ relationship. He had eyes and experience enough to say that they were just friends and platonic as he himself was with Isaac, even if it was an Alpha/Omega dynamic and everyone just expected them to sort themselves out some day and get together. 

No. 

What he was seeing there was different. Scott had a protective hand on her shoulder. The way he looked at her.

But then Scott was looking at  _ him _ , openly staring at him walk out. Derek forced himself not to stop or not to trip on his own feet like an idiot. Scott looked and looked, frowning in a way that Derek wasn’t sure if he was confused, questioning him somehow, or angry at him.

_ Fuck this,  _ Derek tried to communicate with his own glare,  _ fuck you _ .

He broke eye contact, determined to kill whatever feeling he had no matter how.

Back in his car, Erica waited for him, unimpressed, chewing a gun and listening to the radio so loud Derek winced when he opened the driver’s door.

“Done?” She side eyed him.

“Shut up.”

She laughed and then they were leaving, Derek making a point by not sparing a look to the ones leaving behind.

\- SCOTT -

That night, Scott laid his head on the pillow and searched for answers on the ceiling. He supposed he shouldn’t have got all hot and flustered watching some guy punch a bully for him, right? 

He was sure there was a super no no rule about Alphas meddling into other Alphas fights. He  _ felt  _ in his bones a sort of uselessness for standing aside and just watching the events unravel. It started as Lydia's personal problem, but soon Jackson had found a way to make it about Scott.

Except that, at the same time Scott refused to take the bait and act like the violent fools of his kind, something recoiled inside of him, incapable to ignore what Jackson was saying about him.

Well, wasn't he a fraud for using his newly gained abilities to earn things?

So, yeah, Scott was having a hard time finding the strength to defend himself. Even if Stiles – and Alisson! – were arguing non stop on his favor.

But then Derek came out of the fuck nowhere. Seriously,  _ where did he even come from, dude? _

Like, what-?

The creepiness of it all wasn't lost on him, of course, but that, definitely, wasn't the part keeping him awake.

Scott was so confused and strangely turned on by the way the guy just went and shut Jackson up, cracking his goddamn nose while scaring everyone around him shitless just by… being there.

Even if Derek made it to defend Lydia or just because he had some beef with Jackson, or whatever, Scott couldn’t shake the feeling of some kind of  _ gratitude _ deep down his guts, for being bodily shielded from Jackson’s words instead of being in the middle of a ping pong game of insults and diminishing, where his friends struggled to defend him.

Because… there was no defending. 

Scott sighed and forced his eyes closed. He didn’t understand, but he was glad Derek showed up. It would be cool to know what his deal was, maybe get to be his friend at some point. The guy seemed too angry and lonely, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! 
> 
> What did you think? Talk to me! :)


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